With victory over Texans, Browns a step closer to playoff spot

There finally was a normal end to the Browns game Sunday. No replay, no overtime, no game-winning field goal. Just a run-of-the-mill 27-17 win over hapless Houston, with a bonus.

WITH PHOTO GALLERY

Todd Porter

There finally was a normal end to the Browns game Sunday. No replay, no overtime, no game-winning field goal. Just a run-of-the-mill 27-17 win over hapless Houston, with a bonus.

The Browns are in the playoffs. Well, not quite yet, but they in the driver’s seat for a Wild Card spot.

“We kind of control our own destiny,” co-captain and linebacker Andra Davis said. “I’ve been waiting a long time to say that.”
With a 7-4 record and thanks to Cincinnati beating Tennessee, Cleveland now has the sixth-best record in the AFC and would qualify for the postseason.

Not that anyone in a Browns uniform wants to talk about that right now.

“We’ll deflect (playoff talk) until week 16,” left guard Eric Steinbach said. “You can’t worry about that. That’s for when the season is over with and then you sit down and look at everyone’s record and see who the top six teams are. If we don’t win these games, we won’t be in there. As a player, we’ll deflect that talk every week. That’s for newspaper articles and people that read and look at all the scenarios.”

Cleveland is having the kind of turn-around season Head Coach Romeo Crennel hoped, but could anyone have imagined 7-4? The Browns have already won three more games than they did all of last season and are a game better than Crennel’s first season.

And Cleveland still has five games left.

“When I come to the stadium and see the municipal lots filled out instead of half filled, it tells me we’re doing something right,” native son and wide receiver Joe Jurevicius said. “We’re making strides in the right direction. If we can continue to do it, it will feel like a different team.

“The message to the fans is we need you guys. Believe it or not, all that yelling and banging — and all the drinking in the parking lots — that helps us. That’s why I came back home and that’s why I love playing this game.”

Crennel didn’t dare utter the “P” word after the game. It was just another win and another opportunity to improve. His team has won five of its last six games, and five in a row at home for the first time since 1994.

But clearly the attitude of the Browns has changed. They playing with a swagger and confidence, quarterback Derek Anderson said. Anderson completed 24-of-35 passes for 253 yards and led Cleveland on a scoring drive before halftime that got the Browns back in it.

They took a 14-10 lead before halftime and received the ball to start the third quarter.

“You’ve got to go out there and be confident in what you’re doing,” Anderson said. “I’m trying to bring that attitude to guys in the huddle. ‘Hey, this is what we’re doing, and this is how we’re doing it.’ As long as we’re all believing in what we’re doing, we’re gonna be fine.”

Steinbach came to Cleveland as a free agent the Browns signed away from division rival Cincinnati. He remembered what it was like to face the old Browns, and these, he said, aren’t the old Browns.

“It’s night and day,” Steinbach said. “They were beat a lot last year and sometimes before the game was over. The confidence we have is like a swagger. We got a lot of athletes on this team. We’ve got a good system. This is a tight locker room and everyone gets along. I’m liking it right now.”